


Always With You

by Cheshire_Hearts



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Conjunx Endura, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Gift Fic, M/M, Rung is supportive, Whirl is worried, conjunx endura ceremony, only a little angst though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:50:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26940169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheshire_Hearts/pseuds/Cheshire_Hearts
Summary: They've been together for a while now, and both Rung and Whirl are ready for the next step in their relationship; their Conjunx Endura Ceremony. Or so they thought. Whirl is sure he's going to find a way to ruin the whole day and does everything he can to avoid the topic. Rung finally decides to address the issue and confront Whirl about what's been bothering him.
Relationships: Rung/Whirl (Transformers)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	Always With You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cartoonzy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cartoonzy/gifts).



> This is my Give-Away/Gift Fic for reaching 100 followers on Twitter! CoreArde won it and this is the fic they requested. I had so much fun writing this! It was supposed to be a smaller fic, but the muses took off and it turned into my usual length for original short stories...   
> I hope you all enjoy it!

Whirl picked at a dull spot of armor with a claw while Rung stood next to him, his bright smile lighting up the entire room and EM Field full of  _ pride/joy/excitement _ . It wasn’t like Whirl wasn’t just as excited for this as Rung was- he had a few more concerns. Concerns he hadn’t mentioned to anyone yet because he didn’t need to. He could deal with it.

“In three months the main observation deck will be closed to all but a few mechs and femmes for a very special event,” Rodimus began. His wide smile was happy and Whirl glared at him. “Invitations went out this morning to all who are invited and Magnus will not let you in unless you have one and are on the list. Please don’t get on Mag’s nerves, ‘cause you won’t like what happens. And I’ll let someone else finish this announcement for me, since it’s about them.”

Rodimus stepped back, motioning for Rung and Whirl to step up to the microphone. Whirl let Rung step up, standing back out of the way and glaring at everyone on duty.

“Hello everyone. The event Rodimus is talking about will be a Conjunxing ceremony for myself and Whirl.”

Rung’s grin grew bigger and Whirl felt his spark melt just a little. He tried pushing all of his worries to the back of his processor. There was no going back now, not after that announcement. He didn’t want to go back, but his spark twisted and his tank clenched at the thought of messing everything up. Rung wanted a ceremony. He wanted to share their bonding day with all of their friends. Whirl was fine with that. Mostly. At least it was only their closest friends and a few tagalongs, so there was only so much Whirl could mess up.

***

“Congrats you guys!” Skids yelled as they walked down the hall shortly after the announcement. Whirl’s plating slicked down before flaring out. He looked over at the other mech, curving his optic in a way he hoped looked friendly and not at all murderous.

“Thank you, Skids.” Rung said. He was still smiling and Whirl wondered if he could stop at this point. Probably not and Whirl wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Rung was so happy, and Whirl  _ knew  _ he should’ve been too, but he wasn’t and he could barely pretend like he was. 

“I’m so excited about this! It’s been a while since I’ve been to a bonding ceremony, I can’t wait to see yours. Let me know if you need any help with anything!”

“We will,” Rung grabbed Whirl’s claw, giving it a brief squeeze before they continued on. Whirl was glad Rung had responded for them. Whirl probably would’ve said something rude or insensitive and made his partner upset because he offended Skids. 

The whole walk back to their shared habsuite was filled with similar interactions. Mechs kept coming up to them to congratulate them. Well, to congratulate Rung and give Whirl weird or nasty looks. Whirl didn’t really blame them even if he hated the looks and wanted to start fights the whole way back. He knew just as well as everyone else that Rung was too good for him. 

***

Whirl stumbled back up to his pedes, glaring at the other mech. He couldn’t remember their name or even what they transformed into. They had wheels, so a grounder, but the Engex made everything fuzzy and the hit to his helm hadn’t helped clear the static. Whirl shook his helm, trying to get it to clear up a bit.

“You wanna say that to my face?” Whirl snarled, or tried to. It came out static laced and slurred.

“I would, but you don’t really have one.” The mech goaded.

“Okay, guys can you not do this here? I have a no fighting rule and I already called Magnus, so just stop already.” Swerve yelled from behind the safety of his bar. 

“Whirl, enough of this.” Cyclonus stepped up, coming to a stop behind Whirl’s shoulder. “You’re both overcharged and he isn’t worth your time.”

Whirl glared at the other mech. “Fine, whatever. I’ll punch your stupid face in next time if I hear you saying slag like that.”

The other mech rolled his optics and backed away to join his friends. Cyclonus slipped an arm around Whirl’s waist, letting the helicopter lean into him. 

“I think it’s time we get you back to your hab to sleep this off.” 

Whirl nodded slowly, not really feeling like saying or doing much else. It was hard enough walking with Cyclonus’ help. He felt Tailgate’s tiny servo on his lower thigh and looked down at the minibot’s worried visor.

“Don’t listen to him. He’s dumb and doesn’t know how amazing you are,” Tailgate said barely loud enough for Whirl to hear him.

Whirl didn’t remember much of the rest of that night, but Tailgate’s words stuck in his head. They made his throat tight and twisted his spark up in confusion.  _ A trainwreck like you doesn’t deserve to be bonded to someone like Rung. He’s too good for you.  _ Whirl’s claws clacked together angrily as Cyclonus typed in his code, walking him in and carefully laying him on his berth.

“Tailgate’s right Whirl. You shouldn’t listen to someone who’s jealous of you. You’re better than that.” 

Whirl turned away from his friends, pulling and curling up under his tarp. Rung would be back later, after his game night with Magnus and Skids. Whirl had time to get himself under control, to calm down before Rung got back. There wasn’t any reason to worry Rung with his own issues. He would get it under control by the time their ceremony came around.

***

The room was still spinning. It wasn’t as bad as before, but it still swayed oddly. Rung’s face came into focus and Whirl smiled. Or tried to. His optic curved and his EMF reached out for his partner’s. Rung just frowned at him and crossed his arms over his spark chamber.

“Whirl, why are we here again?” When Whirl just blinked at him, Rung sighed and continued, stepping closer and letting his arms fall to his sides. “I know you spend a lot of time in the brig, but this is getting ridiculous. Magnus is threatening to leave you in here for a few days in the hopes you stop acting like this. I’ve convinced him to give you another chance, so  _ please _ don’t start or get involved in any more fights.”

Rung typed in a code and Whirl watched the bars fade. This close, Whirl could teek the concern in his partner’s field, could see it on his faceplates and in the way he carried himself. Whirl let out a huff of air through his vents. He needed to get himself together or he’d ruin things for Rung long before their ceremony. He fluffed his plating and chased off the thought of their special, upcoming event. He didn’t want to think about it right now.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll try to be better.” Whirl mumbled, pushing himself up onto unsteady pedes. Rung reached out for him in concern.

“Thank you, that’s all I’m asking. I know you’re stressed, but you can always come to me if you need anything.” Rung offered, again. He knew there was something more going on with Whirl, had a good idea what it could be, but the tiny psychiatrist wanted Whirl to bring it up to him, or, better yet, fix the issue on his own.

“I know I can, but I’m fine. Promise.” 

Somehow, Rung doubted that. He wasn’t going to call Whirl out on it though; at least, not yet. Not in the brig when he was still overcharged and stumbling.

***

“Whirl, wait! We really need to go over this!” Tailgate shouted, trying to sprint after the larger mech.

“Sorry, Legs, I got places to be and things to do!” Whirl vanished around a corner and Tailgate gave up, bending over to try and get his vents back under control.

“Are you alright?” Rung asked.

Tailgate jerked up with a shriek, visor overbright before it focused on Rung. “Rung! Don’t do that to a mech!”

“I’m so sorry Tailgate, I didn’t mean to startle you. I heard yelling and came out to see what was going on.”

“It’s alright Rung, I wasn’t really paying attention to my surroundings. And, it’s just, Whirl being himself again. I have something he needs to go over for the ceremony and it should’ve been done weeks ago, but I either can’t find him or he does this. He just- he just claims he has stuff to do and then just vanishes!”

Rung frowned. He’d hoped Whirl had been getting better about that, but it seemed to only be getting worse. “I see. I can give him that tonight, I wanted to set up a little dinner for us before the ceremony.”

“Really? Oh, thank you, Rung. I’m really exhausted from Whirl-chasing all day. Hopefully, that’ll calm him down.”

“Of course, Tailgate,” Rung took the datapad from the minibot and slipped it into his subspace. He sent a quick message to Whirl, asking if he was free for a date night and got an immediate response. Rung smiled and set about getting everything prepared for their night in. He already had most of it prepared, needing only to set it all up and grab one thing from Swerve first.

***

Whirl walked into his and Rung’s habsuite. He held a sense of dread close to his frame. He had been so, so careful to make sure Rung had no idea what had been bothering him. He was sure this was just one of their normal date nights. The ones they’d had before they started preparing for their ceremony. Their ceremony that was now a few days away and something Whirl was wholly unprepared for.

The lights were dimmed, and Whirl wished he could still grin when his optic landed on Rung. The smaller mech had polished himself up for this. Candles decorated the table in front of him and he offered Whirl a blinding smile. Whirl’s optic curved up even more and he strutted over to the table, feeling more at ease than he had in a few months. Ever since their announcement.

“What do we have here?” He asked, surveying the table as if he didn’t already know what he’d find there. 

“Just a little bit of all of our favorites. I think we deserve to have a quiet night in for once.” Rung replied.

Whirl relaxed even more at their familiar conversation. Date nights almost always started out like this and it helped ease the tension and stress the helicopter still carried. Whirl pulled out his seat and sprawled into it, kicking his legs out to the side so they wouldn’t be in the way or cramped under the table. Rung poured their Energon and relaxed back into his seat. He waited, watching Whirl relax more and more.

“I’m so excited for our bonding ceremony in a few days,” Rung said into his glass. He watched Whirl instantly tense, plating slicking down to his protoform, claw tensing around his cube, shoulders stiffening, and his whole frame froze for a full klik. Rung placed his glass down on the table and took off his glasses, trying to catch Whirl’s optic.

“Yeah, me too,” was mumbled.

“Whirl, we need to talk about this.”

“Talk about what?” Whirl still wasn’t looking at Rung.

“What has you so upset about our ceremony? You do everything you can to avoid either talking about it or helping with it. Tailgate’s been chasing you around the  _ Lost Light  _ for weeks and only Cyclonus can get you to do some work.” Rung pulled the datapad Tailgate had given him a few hours prior and placed it on the table between them. Whirl very carefully didn’t look at it or Rung, optic focused on the clock hung on the wall. The one he’d spent months making perfect for Rung.

“What makes you think I’m upset about it? I’m not. I’m happy.”

Rung sighed quietly. “Whirl, look at me please.” Whirl turned his helm just enough to look at his partner. Rung took a steadying vent, let it out, and met Whirl’s optic. “It’s okay if this is all too much too soon. We can call it all off if this is feeling like it’s too much for you or if you aren’t ready yet.”

Whirl’s rigid posture changed; plating flared and his optic narrowed. He turned fully to look at Rung. “I never said that. I never said I didn’t want this. I  _ want  _ this. I just-”

Whirl looked away, claw picking at a thread on the table cloth. Rung waited, but Whirl didn’t make any moves to continue. He kept picking at things, plating flared and field defensive where it met Rung’s.

“Just what, Whirl? Please talk to me.” Rung reached out, laying his servo out on the table between them, EMF open and encouraging. Whirl looked at it for a moment before sighing and placing his claw in Rung’s upturned servo.

“I’m gonna frag it all up and I don’t want to upset you. I love you more than anything else in the whole universe, but I’m always screwing everything up and I ruin so much. I want this to happen. I want to have an amazing ceremony, but I know I’m gonna find some way to frag it all up. Yeah, I’ve gotten better, but I’m still violent and still have a lot of intrusive thoughts and I don’t want to ruin anything for you. I only want you to be happy.”

Rung couldn’t talk for a moment. His vocalizer clicked in the suddenly quiet room as he rebooted it. He’d always known Whirl loved him, but this? This was new and it filled Rung with so much  _ love/joy/elation/pride.  _ His fingers shook as he closed them around Whirl’s claw, the blade carefully tucked away and the sheath filed smooth and blunt. 

“Whirl,” Rung swallowed thickly, squeezing the claw to bring the heli’s focus back to Rung. “I am happy. Whenever I’m with you, I’m so incredibly happy. You never fail to make my day when I see you. I know things are hard for you, but you’re trying and that means everything to me.”

“But we’re mismatched,” Whirl muttered, optic focused on Rung's thin, fragile hands gripping his claw.

“Whoever told you that clearly needs to have their optics checked.” Whirl’s gaze snapped back up to Rung’s face.

“What?”

“Whirl, we aren’t ‘mismatched’,” Rung’s face screwed up as he said the word, like it tasted bad in his mouth. “Look at Cyclonus and Tailgate or even Riptide and First Aid. Sure no one expected any of that to happen, but that doesn’t mean they’re mismatched. It’s the same for us. What matters most isn’t what others say about us or even think about our relationship. I  _ know  _ you would never intentionally hurt me and I’m here for you. Always.”

Whirl’s plating started to shake and Rung stood up from his seat, keeping hold of Whirl’s claw as he walked around the table. He shifted his hold so he could crawl onto his partner’s lap. 

“It’s alright to be nervous about something like this. Even I’m nervous.”

“No you’re not,” Whirl mumbled, wrapping an arm around Rung’s waist to help hold him upright. Rung placed one servo gently on the edge of Whirl’s cockpit.

“I am. I haven’t been recharging and I’ve broken three light pens just this week alone. I’ve also caught myself pacing a lot lately.”

The larger mech looked away for a moment, optic finding the clock again. He pulled Rung closer to him. “You really wouldn’t be upset if I ruined the ceremony?”

“I don’t think you will, but I wouldn’t be upset at all if something did happen.” Rung let their EM fields mesh so Whirl could feel how sure he was. “If it’ll make you feel better, I won’t leave your side the whole time, and we can come up with a code for when you’re feeling overwhelmed and need a break or if you need help grounding yourself here.”

It took a lot of effort for Whirl to drag his optic from the clock to focus back on Rung and his soft smile. He really didn’t need to think about it at all. 

“Okay,” he whispered, tipping his helm forward until it gently knocked against Rung’s.

Rung laughed, the sound bright and happy. The smaller mech nuzzled into the touch, tilting his helm so he could place a quick kiss to the side of Whirl’s helm. “I love you so much and I am so happy to be your Conjunx soon.”

Whirl laughed quietly. “Me too.”

“Which means that you still need to go over that datapad Tailgate left with.”

“Ugh, alright fine. But only after we finish date night!”

“If that’s what it takes, then that’s perfectly alright,” Rung grinned up at his partner. It looked like a lot of the stress, the weight, had finally left Whirl’s frame. Rung snuggled into the larger mech’s frame, dimming his optics and listened to the rotary go on about his day and everything he’d done. He couldn’t keep the smile from his face when he realized this would last for the rest of their lives.

***

“You don’t have to pace you know,” Tailgate said, watching Whirl stalk back across the floor. Cyclonus was willing to wait the rotary mech out, but they’d likely miss the ceremony at this point.

“But what if it isn’t right?” Whirl whined, actually  _ whined _ .

“It’s perfect. I don’t think there’s anything to add to it at this point.”Cyclonus said, standing and snagging Whirl’s arm as he passed. “It’s perfect. It’ll be fine.  _ You’ll _ be fine.”

Whirl fidgeted, picking at the paint on his claws. Tailgate smacked him with a polishing cloth. “None of that! I just finished polishing you and you can’t ruin it until tonight. Got it?” 

A laugh bubbled up out of Whirl at the tiny glare from the minibot. “Yeah alright. I just don’t want to ruin it.”

“You won’t,” Cyclonus placed a warm servo on Whirl’s shoulder. “You’ll be standing next to Rung the whole time and Tailgate and myself will be with you the whole time too. You’re going to be surrounded by friends, mecha who not only care about you but also Rung.”

Whirl nodded, leaning a bit of his weight into the purple mech. Tailgate leaned against his leg, reaching up to pat at his hip. They stood there until it was time to leave and Whirl took a deep in-vent, letting it out slowly before following his friends out into the main room of the observation deck.

The room was filled with dim lighting strung along the ceiling and walkways. The room was probably too large for such a small gathering, but neither Rung nor Whirl could think of a better place for their ceremony. Whirl looked around until he spotted the orange mech standing next to Ratchet off to one side talking with Rewind and Chromedome. The minibot and his Conjunx hadn’t been on their list originally, but Rewind had wanted to record the ceremony itself and had promised to follow all of Whirl and Rung’s rules. He’d even promised to delete the footage if they asked him too afterward for whatever reason. 

Whirl made his way over to his soon-to-be-Conjunx, tank roiling and spark fluttering wildly. Rung saw him and turned fully toward Whirl, bright smile on his face and servo outstretched to the rotary mech. Whirl reached out with a claw and let Rung wrap his digits around it. 

“Hey,” Whirl said.

“Hello, love.” Rung smiled up at him, leaning into his space.

Ratchet made a slightly disgusted noise as Tailgate giggled. “Alright you two, no need to be so mushy. Since you’re both here and so is everyone else, why don’t we get this started?” Ratchet muttered, looking around quickly for Rodimus.

“We can go find him, why don’t you all start getting ready?” Rewind suggested, already grabbing Chromedome’s servo and dragging the bigger mech off. Whirl wondered how Rewind knew where to go, but it wasn’t like finding Rodimus was all that hard, especially since the observation deck was huge and there were only a handful of them.

“Ready?” Rung asked, shifting his hold on Whirl’s claw so he could drape the blue mech’s arm around his narrow shoulders and lean into his side. 

“Not really, but I don’t think I ever really will be,” Whirl said back quietly.

They walked into the center of the room, under a circle of tiny string lights Nautica and Velocity had set up earlier. Once they got directly underneath it, Rung stepped in front of Whirl, taking both his claws into his servos. Ratchet stood outside the ring of lights behind Rung. Drift joined him and Cyclonus and Tailgate took up their spot directly at Whirl’s back. Skids and Swerve showed up next, splitting up so Skids could stand on Rung’s side of the circle and Swerve could stand on Whirl’s. Velocity and Nautica walked over and took up the last open spaces behind Rung. Rewind and Chromedome arrived last, with Rodimus trailing behind them. Their captain waited until the two had taken up their spots behind Whirl before stepping up to the circle, directly between the two.

“Thanks for letting me do this, it’s been a while, but I know you both wanted to keep things simple, so I really don’t have all that much to say. I wish you both luck and good fortune. You two complement each other well, helping to balance the other out and are always there to support one another when you need it. We’re all here to congratulate you and wish you well as your friends, to show our support for this decision you’ve both decided to make.” Rodimus paused, looking between the two of them with a smile before continuing. “Is there anything you’d like to say to each other before you bond officially?”

“I would,” Rung said, never taking his optics off of Whirl. “Whirl, I love you more than anything and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I’m so happy every day now when I wake up with you and whenever I see you. I can’t imagine my life without you in it anymore. I’m honored you want to be my bonded. I will stand with you through any kind of trial and unrest in your life and will help you through them in any way I can.”

“Whirl?” Rodimus asked after a short pause to make sure Rung was finished.”

“Yeah, I wanna say something too.” Whirl took a deep invent before he started. “I didn’t think I’d ever end up happy. I ruin everything and cause trouble all the time, but that’s never once stopped you from being around or with me. Nothing compares to how I feel for you. I love you more than anything else in this universe and any others. I never want to let you go and if I can, I’ll never let anything hurt you ever again. I’ll always be here with you and I never want to leave your side. Being bonded to you is the only thing I want. I’ll be here for you no matter what happens. I’m afraid you’re gonna be stuck with me forever after this.”

Rung laughed, his smile wide and bright even though Whirl saw a few tears slip past the rims of his glasses. There were some other sniffles and Whirl was sure Tailgate was the one who let out a tiny sob. Rodimus had to reset his vocalizer and clear his intake before he could speak again.

“With those vows, you two are now bonded in our optics.” The speedster waved a servo and the lights turned off, leaving just the string lights over their helms on.

Whirl crouched down to be on a better level with Rung, guiding his Conjunx closer to him. Rung’s chest plate was already cracked open, spilling brilliant, right blue and white light. Whirl let his on chest plating split and fold away until his own pale blue light spilled out to join with Rung’s. He could feel their sparks synching up even without a true merge, could feel how they were being drawn together. Their chest plates  _ thunked  _ together and then Rung was leaning up to press a kiss to Whirl’s helm, right below his optic. Whirl melted, nuzzling his new Conjunx. They pulled back after a few seconds, chest plating closing back up.

“Well, congratulations you two, you’re officially bonded,” Rodimus said quietly as the lights powered back up to 50%. “You can finish spark bonding later and you’re both free for the next week to do as you want and let the bond fully settle.”

Rodimus walked away after they nodded at him. Whirl hadn’t let go of Rung yet, still clinging to him and nuzzling their helms together. He knew their friends congratulated them, knew Cyclonus and Tailgate grabbed them treats, but he didn’t really remember most of it. He had Rung tucked against his side, sighing contentedly and stroking a servo over his chest and that was all that mattered. Later, they’d end up back in their habsuite and could fully bond, but for now, simply relaxing with Rung, surrounded by their most trusted friends, was all Whirl wanted to do.


End file.
